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Cambridge Analytica whistleblower expected to testify at House ethics committee

CTVNews.ca Staff
Published Tuesday, April 17, 2018 2:51PM EDT

OTTAWA – Christopher Wylie, the Canadian who blew the whistle on the Cambridge Analytica scandal, is expected to testify before the House Access to Information, Privacy, and Ethics Committee.

According to the clerk of the committee, Wylie has replied to the committee’s invitation, indicating he is willing to appear. It is unclear whether that will be in-person or via teleconference.

Both sides are now working to find a date and time that works.

In March, the committee unanimously agreed to study the Cambridge Analytica and Facebook data breach, looking into the “privacy implications of platform monopolies and possible national and international regulatory and legislative remedies to assure the privacy of citizens’ data and the integrity of democratic and electoral processes across the globe.”

As part of its agreement to study the matter, the committee invited Wylie to appear.

MPs on the committee have already begun hearing from witnesses as part of its study, including Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien on Tuesday. His office launched an investigation into how the U.K.-based data-analytics company’s improper harvesting of information affected Canadian Facebook users.

Facebook says a total of 87 million of its users were affected.

Of those, Facebook estimates 622,161 users in Canada had their data shared with Cambridge Analytica.

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